HercuList Secrets

SpaceX says a geomagnetic storm just doomed 40 Starlink internet satellites

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 49 Starlink satellites on Thursday (Feb. 3) from NASA's historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A day later, a geomagnetic storm above Earth increased the density of the atmosphere slightly, increasing ...

Mars rover Perseverance sets distance record on the Red Planet

The mission, not quite at one Earth year on Mars, has topped a new distance record for Red Planet rovers. On Friday (Feb. 4) Perseverance made the longest drive completed in a single Martian day, or sol, traveling 806.3 feet (245.76 meters), the rover's ...

One of Evolution's Oddest Creatures Finds a Fossilized Family Member

The New York Times

The New York Times

However, Opabinia has remained shrouded in evolutionary mystery because of a frustrating lack of fossils. The bulk of Opabinia specimens were collected more than a century ago and the creature has never been found outside of the Burgess Shale.

UAE's Hope spacecraft marks 1 year in orbit around Mars

It's been a full year since the United Arab Emirates made history when its first-ever interplanetary mission slipped into orbit around Mars. The Emirates Mars Mission, also called Hope, launched in July 2020, arrived at the Red Planet seven months ...

Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 19th flight after historic Red Planet weather delay

The dust storm couldn't keep NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity grounded forever. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity aced a 100-second sortie on Tuesday (Feb. 8), its 19th Red Planet flight overall but its first since Dec. 15.

NASA picks Lockheed Martin to build rocket to carry Mars samples back to Earth

NASA's Mars sample-return plan continues to come together. The agency announced on Monday (Feb. 7) that it has selected the aerospace company Lockheed Martin to build the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a small rocket that will launch pristine Red Planet ...

Paint it black: behind the James Webb Space Telescope's signature color

Webb essentially has two sides, a hot side and a cool side, which are separated by the spacecraft's sunshield. The cool side is where its highly sensitive scientific instruments reside, and sunshield blocks any heat from the sun from reaching those ...

Sprawling sponge gardens found deep beneath the Arctic sea ice

Scientists discovered a surprisingly rich and densely populated ecosystem on the peaks of extinct underwater volcanoes in the Arctic deep sea. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.

Elon Musk launched his own Tesla roadster to space four years ago. Where is it now?

New York (CNN Business) Four years ago this week, the most powerful operational rocket in the world, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, made its inaugural launch from Florida and tore into outer space carrying nothing other than Elon Musk's personal Tesla roadster ...

WIRED

Huge Sponges Are Eating an Extinct Arctic Ecosystem

WIRED

Or more accurately, the sulfur fed the symbiotic bacteria inside the worms, which processed it into energy, keeping the animals alive. That volcanic activity at Langseth Ridge died long ago, yet life has remained ...